Posts in Category "announcements"

In addition to the Photoshop Features panel, there is also an InDesign Features panel, which gives you access to the great new and improved InDesign CS6 features in a single click. This panel also has InDesign tutorial videos from Adobe TV integrated, so you don’t even need to leave InDesign to watch the features in action.

Created with Adobe Configurator 3, the Photoshop Features panel lets you easily explore, try out and learn the new and enhanced tools and features in Photoshop CS6 and Photoshop CS6 Extended. Arranged in a series of tabs, from the panel you can check out the new tools and features, access the timeline tools and capabilities for video and frames, go to video tutorial websites and if you have Photoshop Extended use all the major 3D tools and functions.

The panel is free and exclusively available on Adobe Exchange. To download it you will need the Adobe Exchange panel which currently works with 9 different CS6 applications.

I’m delighted to announce that Adobe Exchange now has it’s own Facebook page, in addition to an Adobe TV Channel and Twitter account. We hope to use some of the powerful Facebook API’s to help promote Exchange products in the future but right now we need help, we need friends! We’re lonely without you

Be our friend! Please

If you have a Facebook account please ‘like’ us, or just check out the content. You can see our page here:

I am delighted to announce the first ever update to Adobe Configurator. Configurator lets you create custom panels for Photoshop and InDesign. The 3.1 update contains a significant number of bug fixes and new features based on feedback from users. It also contains a number of enhancements to support the new Adobe Exchange, a marketplace for Creative Suite 6 add-ons and content, which went live last month. You can download Configurator 3.1 from Adobe Labs, or if you already have Configurator 3.0 installed look out for an update to 3.1 due tomorrow via the Adobe Application Manager.

Configurator 3.1 Key New Features

1. Button Icons: In CS6 panels, you can associate your own images with a button object as icons for different states (button up, button down, and mouse over). You can have icons for Command, Script, Script file, Action, and Popup buttons.

2. Panels for Adobe Exchange: This release offers additional support and features that help you create panels for Adobe Exchange.

New attributes allow you to specify the Author and a Description for a panel that is exported as a CS Extension, and attribute names have been simplified from “Extension ID” and “Extension Version” to “ID” and “Version.”

MenuName and Author values are required; if they are empty or invalid, you cannot export the panel as a CS Extension.

The Create Certificate dialog has been simplified.

3. Scripting Support: The HTML widget now allows you to invoke predefined and developer-defined functions and scripts, which gives your panel access to the JavaScript API for Photoshop or InDesign.

4. Additional Color Theme Support: The HTML widget can now detect the user’s change of color themes in Photoshop CS6, so that you can provide light and dark versions of any panel content.

With more and more producers getting their products on Adobe Exchange we wanted a way for you to be able to promote the fact your products are available from Adobe Exchange, so we came up with some badges that you can use on your websites, email, etc.

Main Badge

This is the main badge we suggest you use for promoting the fact that your product is available on Adobe Exchange.

Smaller Badge

Where space is at a premium we also have a smaller badge, shown above. To use either badge, right click (Mac users Ctrl+click) and choose “Save image as…”, or “Download linked file”, depending on the Web browser you use.

Please note:

Link either badge to the Adobe Exchange website, so users can download the Adobe Exchange Panel and get access to your product.

Do not alter the badges in any way. If you have any questions relating to the use of these badges you can ask them when submitting your product.

Other ways to promote your products on Adobe Exchange

We have integrated Twitter into Adobe Exchange and producers can automatically tweet to their followers once a product is released or featured, you just provide Adobe Exchange with your Twitter details when setting up your Producer account. We have some other work in progress in terms of Twitter capabilities and are looking at several ways to promote products on Adobe Exchange, we will let you know about these capabilities as we introduce them but wanted to share these badges now they are ready.

This week we released the latest updates to Adobe Exchange. Most of the changes are behind the scenes but there are three main changes we wanted to make you aware of. The first is a great change for anyone signing up for the free subscription level. Previously you could only provide free or private products, now you can provide 2 paid products. So what are you waiting for? You can sign up for free and while we are in prerelease you can sign up for the unlimited plan and submit multiple paid products as well.

1. Free Level subscription can now include 2 paid products
As part of the free level subscription to Adobe Exchange a producer can now submit up to 2 Paid products as part of their 10 overall products. So for example you could have 2 paid, 6 Free/Public and 2 Private products = Total 10 Products.

2. New MXI-based extension requirement
We have implemented a change on the MXI-based extensions requirements to ensure they install properly for users. The new requirement is that the filename you give the MXI file has to match the Bundle ID of your extension. So for example, a bundle ID of “com.adobe.exchange” means the MXI would have to be “com.adobe.exchange.mxi”. Note that the constraint is not case sensitive, so “COM.ADOBE.EXCHANGE.MXI” would also work. The reason for this change has to do with how extensions are installed by Adobe Extension Manager. Essentially, the filename of the MXI is part of what makes the extension unique, so you’ll only be able to install one extension for each unique MXI filename.

Please note:
1. This only applies to MXI-based extensions. Manifest.xml extensions are not affected.
2. Existing extensions on Adobe Exchange will be left alone, but from now on, you’ll get an error if you upload a ZXP that doesn’t fit this constraint.
3. The latest releases of Packager, Extension Builder, and Configurator follow this naming requirement automatically.

3. Adobe Exchange Packager
This latest release provides:
1. User interface improvements for using Packager on lower resolution displays, including scrolling on some of the screens.
2. Remember Package Details and Setting – Available from the Settings menu, Packager can now remember various settings such as Publisher name, to reduce repetitive typing across multiple products.

If you haven’t already, why not download the Adobe Exchange Panel and take a look at the products that are already available and then get started on adding your own products.

I am tremendously excited to announce that today we provided the first public preview of the new Adobe Exchange on Adobe Labs.

What is it?

The new Adobe Exchange is a Creative Suite extension marketplace. It is available as a panel within a variety of CS6 applications. The Adobe Exchange panel provides a new way to search, discover, and install plug-ins, extensions, and other content for Creative Suite products.

Isn’t there already an Adobe Exchange?

Yes, there are various product exchanges here. This new Adobe Exchange is quite different and offers a number of advantages over the existing Adobe Exchange, (detailed here). The Adobe Exchange brand name is great, but the website did not reflect the modern cloud connected world. In my experience, Creative Suite users like to work within the Creative Suite products, not jumping in and out of the browser, so the new Exchange is presented as an in-product panel.

You are the producer!

Starting today, anyone with an Adobe ID will be able to submit up to 10 free products to the new Adobe Exchange, free of charge. You can also share products privately. Due to the way Exchange products are packaged it’s a great way for individuals or organisations to share Creative Suite content and it will appear in the user’s My Stuff section of the panel and can automatically provide any new updates. The potential here is enormous. For example, sharing out an InDesign template, swatches and many other Creative Suite generated content, which you can package in minutes with Adobe Exchange Packager. This goes beyond file sharing, as it can install the content in the correct locations for use with Creative Suite 6 supported products.

Anyone looking to offer paid products via the new Adobe Exchange should sign up for the prerelease program at tinyurl.com/exchangeprerelease. There are no subscription charges for offering paid products while we are in prerelease.

This is just the beginning…

We have a lot of developments planned for the new Adobe Exchange, including Creative Cloud integration and much, much more. In the mean time, download the Adobe Exchange panel and it will automatically update as we add new capabilities.

Spread the word

I would really appreciate it if you could help spread the word about the new Adobe Exchange now that it is publicly available. Posting to blogs, social media, etc., anything you can do to help will make a difference and let people try it out for themselves. We want to build up a critical mass of Adobe Exchange users and producers creating great products.

The launch on Adobe Labs is an important first step for Adobe Exchange. Thanks for taking the journey with us.

Application updates are an almost daily ritual for me. I have a huge number of apps for my smartphone, tablet, and Desktop and it’s rare that either the operating system or an app doesn’t have an update waiting to be installed. At Adobe we are passionate about creating high quality products, so updates are key to delivering on that quality and delighting users. I mention this because updaters are troublesome. For developers, it is time away from the next major release and it can be very difficult to diagnose problems found or deal with older code. For users it seems like yet another update, often with little or no information on what the update is for. Finally, spare a thought for the IT departments, they are not dealing with a single update on a single computer but potentially thousands or tens of thousands of computers requiring that update.

One thing that various teams in Adobe are working on is getting updates out faster but also doing a better job of describing what the update does or why you should install it. There are constraints here because the longer we spend writing up the release notes the longer it can take to actually get the release out, plus we also need to do proper testing to ensure that fixing one problem or bug for example does not cause another bug elsewhere. One of the reasons I am excited by Creative Cloud is that users will see continuous updates going forward. Not just bug fixes but new features. Accounting rules for the recent Creative Suite releases meant Adobe was not able to add new features to a major product after the release as the revenue from the sale was taken up front, like most software companies. With Creative Cloud the revenue is coming on a monthly basis and we are allowed to add new features and change the product or even, as recently witnessed, increase the offering to add more products, such as Photoshop Lightroom 4, which is a new addition to Creative Cloud. As for the IT departments, there is a tool to help them with Creative Suite installation including updates, called Adobe Application Manager Enterprise Edition (AAMEE). It’s free and you can download all the AAMEE versions here.

Talking of updates, one of the major under the hood changes we made with Adobe Configurator 3 was to enable the application to be updated. It uses the same Adobe Application Manager as other Creative Suite/Creative Cloud products and we are looking forward to releasing the first update next month. It will have several bug fixes but also several great new features that we think users are going to love. All of the new features we will add came directly from user requests and will provide new levels of customization for Configurator created panels in Photoshop and InDesign. There will be more information about the Configurator 3.1 update soon but in the mean time, why not download Configurator 3 from Adobe Labs if you haven’t already. That way you will automatically be notified when the new update is available. The new Adobe Exchange which will soon be available on Adobe Labs and is currently available via a prerelease program, will allow producers to update their products and automatically notify users that updates are available. This is far better than the current situation where if you download a plug-in or extension for Creative Suite, the developer has to implement their own updater or the user has to find out that an update for their product is available.

Overall, updates are important and nine times out of ten they are very useful. I expect updates will only increase in frequency and importance in this cloud connected world. While it may seem like a pain at times, updates serve a purpose.

Today we released our first preview of a tool called Adobe Exchange Packager. As the name suggests this application helps you easily package your Creative Suite content or add-ons for the new Adobe Exchange. Adobe Exchange will enable developers, trainers, community experts and many others to promote, distribute, monetize and track their CS6 solutions. These products will be made available to potential customers within the ‘Adobe Exchange’ panel inside most CS6 applications. The team is actively seeking launch partners for the new Adobe Exchange and are taking applications now, for users who would like to be added into the prerelease program, before the launch this Summer. If you are interested in becoming a launch partner and getting in on this exciting opportunity early or hearing more about the program, just complete the brief Adobe Exchange Prerelease Program sign up form:

Adobe Exchange Packager joins CS Extension Builder 2 for developing engaging extensions faster and Configurator 3 which makes custom panels for Photoshop and InDesign, as tools that let you create Adobe Exchange compatible products. Now you can easily create content for the new Adobe Exchange with Adobe Exchange Packager. It generates a single file that Adobe Extension Manager uses to install files such as scripts, brushes, swatches, templates and more into the right places for Creative Suite applications.

The Adobe Exchange Panel will be made available initially on Adobe Labs in a few short weeks, so we would encourage you to sign up for the prerelease program and get your products and content ready for our planned initial public release in July.

We hope to see your products and solutions on the new Adobe Exchange soon.